Feminism and Animals: What You Won’t Find in the 101

(a.k.a. If I Could Change Anything, This Would Be It. … well, Some Of It.)

With the passing of feminist scholar and transmisogynist hate monger Mary Daly, a number of feminist blogs have been singing the praises of her life and her legacy. Few of these female-positive spaces – which profess to work towards empowering women and eliminating oppression – have bothered to mention that Daly, an “ethical vegetarian” and one-time board member of Feminists for Animal Rights, espoused the complete elimination of transgender individuals, calling them “Frankensteinian.” Feminist and vegetarian scholar Carol J. Adams, a much-respected activist in both the feminist and animal rights communities and a former student of Daly’s, sung her praises in a recent blog entry. In the comments of this blog, Adams states that “there were times when we disagreed with her; but what was wonderful is how she opened up the space to have such lively disagreements.” Meanwhile, a comment asking Adams and her readers to acknowledge the very real legacy of harm and intolerance left by Daly, was promptly deleted .

(In a private e-mail to me, Carol stated that she deleted the comment because she wanted to keep her blog entry as simply a memorial to the influence that Mary Daly had on her life, but this felt to me like more of the same denial that Daly ever did anything wrong, more of the legacy of trans-exclusive feminism that has created such a threatening world for gender non-conforming individuals.)

As someone who calls herself both feminist and vegan, or simply as someone working toward a more just world, I find that the correlation between the oppressions based on gender and species is striking. Of course, hierarchies based on inherent characteristics (viewing women as inferior to men, for example, or animals inferior to humans) are hugely problematic in the first place, but nowhere does the intersection between gender and species seem so strong as in the dairy industry. Non-human animals enslaved on dairy farms face oppression and exploitation not only because they are animals, but because they are female. Milk is a product of pregnancy; in order to continue to produce milk, a cow or goat or sheep must be continually impregnated, usually by force and use of a tool referred to as a “rape rack.” This does not mean, however, that the animals get to enjoy a large family and the love of their children; instead, offspring are taken away from the mother hours or days after birth. These infants are often slaughtered immediately or, in the case of calves, raised as veal. In this way, the exploitation of the female reproductive system feeds directly into the system of meat production, the elimination of which vegans and vegetarians are working toward.

Furthermore, the demand for bird eggs results in not only the demand for (female) hens with reproductive systems, but it also cumulates in the slaughter of millions of male chicks who are unnecessary for egg production. (Male chicks do not grow quickly enough to be “profitably” reared for meat, and they are biologically unable to produce eggs. Therefore, they are killed immediately.) Again, these hens would not be trapped on egg farms if they weren’t female, and these male chicks would not be created simply to be killed within hours of birth if humans did not demand the products of female hen reproduction.

It would seem that every feminist, fighting for the rights of women and an end to gender-based oppression, would have a stake in choosing not to eat the products of the dairy industry. Sadly, this is not the case.

And just as I am disheartened by feminists and “ecofeminists” who choose to eat or wear animals and animal excretions, I find it disappointing, not to mention dangerous, when feminist-identified individuals purposefully ignore and deny the struggles of gender non-conforming and/or transgender people. If we are speaking out against women being oppressed because of their gender and gender identity, it seems natural to also speak out on behalf of transgender individuals, who also face systematic oppression because of their gender identities. As long as feminists and vegans are declaring that trans men must have transitioned because they found life “too difficult” as a woman and trans women decried as “wolves in sheep’s clothing,” we are perpetuating a system that discriminates (and kills) based on the way a person experiences his/her/hir gender.

And as long as any of those systems exists – as long as people are experiencing oppression because of their gender, race, class, species, ability, sexual orientation, or any inherent characteristic – we have not achieved a vegan world.